How to Deal with Setbacks

Everyone on the planet is familiar with failure, setbacks, and losses. Mistakes happen, we hit roadblocks, or things just don’t go our way. In many ways, hardship is a universal experience. When we face situations like this, the knee-jerk reaction can be to throw in the towel, give up, and move on to a new dream or a new project.

But, here’s the thing, this mentality won’t get you anywhere in life but broke. If you don’t know how to deal with the hardships that come your way, you just aren’t going to get far (in business and in life).

Quitting is the easy way out. If you want to succeed, you need to keep one thing in mind:

What separates those who achieve from those who fall behind is how they react to and handle failure.

So what should you do when you are facing a setback?

Accept That Setbacks ARE Going To Happen

Every successful person has dealt with a setback or mistake before. To grow as a person, you need to experience new things and step out of your comfort zone. It’s important to remember that when you take a leap like this, you likely aren’t going to get things right 100% of the time — those would be entirely unrealistic expectations. That’s not to say you should take mistakes or setbacks lightly, but you should accept that they are a part of life.

When a mistake happens, take a deep breath and remember this isn’t the end of the world.

Ask For Feedback

If you have made a mistake, you should ask for feedback, get to the root of the problem, and avoid it in the future. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, after all. Admitting that you’ve done something wrong can be scary and vulnerable, but if you don’t own up to your mistakes, you can’t learn from them.

Surround Yourself With People Who Support You

When dealing with a mistake or setback, it’s good to have a support system in place. Surround yourself with people who support you, care about your well-being, and will help you get back on your feet after those truly catastrophic setbacks.

No one can survive alone, and you can accomplish so much more when you have people to back you up.

A Few Closing Thoughts

How far you get in life depends so much on how you react to failure. Ask yourself: are you going to let a setback define and derail you? Or are you going to have a winning mindset?

Don’t let yourself cower and crumble when you meet a challenge. Pick yourself up and get to work. That’s the only way to get ahead in the world. When something frustrating happens, don’t forget to take a beat and reflect on what happened. Was this a preventable mistake? What will you do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

It’s your responsibility to determine how successful you’ll be and how your mistakes will define you.